


People Do Care, Thomas

by ShakespearesRose



Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: Canon Compliant, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Thomas Barrow needs a hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:00:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25022788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShakespearesRose/pseuds/ShakespearesRose
Summary: Upstairs and Downstairs. Neither were a huge fan of Under-Butler Thomas Barrow. But now after a failed suicide attempt both sides were forced to see a side of Mr Barrow he didn’t want them to see.(The title could change)
Relationships: Thomas Barrow & Charles Carson, Thomas Barrow & Cora Crawley, Thomas Barrow & Elsie Hughes, Thomas Barrow & Phyllis Baxter, Thomas Barrow & Robert Crawley, Thomas Barrow & everyone
Comments: 3
Kudos: 63





	1. The Family finds out

**Author's Note:**

> My first Downton Abbey fic.

Broken, Bruised and Bitter, three words that could be used to describe one Thomas Barrow. Everyone knew it, yet no one was keen to patch up the young lad. But now, with his wrists bandaged up and his gunshot wound on display, an unconscious Thomas was left vulnerable to them all.

After placing him in his bed, Andy was forced to return to his duties, and Anna returned with Dr Clarkson, which forced Phyllis Baxter to leave the bedside of her childhood friends younger brother, They had to get expressed confirmation that the doctor was not going to disclose any information about the incident, only a few were to know. If this scandal got out it could ruin many people. 

Mr Carson was in charge of telling his lordship, on his way to the small library where he knew the family was currently residing he couldn't help but wonder if he himself played some part in the under-butler's plight. It had been no secret that he had favoured countless members of staff over the young man, even when he first arrived at the Abbey, nothing more than a mere boy, lost in life and looking for work and shelter. 

Carrying the small tray of cakes for the family, Carson entered the small library. He looked around the room, checking it, assessing who was in the room and just how delicate and sensitive their ears may be to his news.

“Carson what happened? Where are the Footmen?” His lordship asked upon seeing the Butler approach, he had already noticed the distinct lack of workers in the room, which to Carson meant that his lordship already knew something was amiss. 

“That is something I need to discuss with you my lord” Carson replied. He knew that in this situation, this incident was best kept quiet and private but his lordship needed to know and he needed to know as soon as possible. 

Robert and Carson leaned towards one another and Carson was able to whisper. “Mr Barrow’s cut his wrists, he’s tried to kill himself” 

“Thomas has cut his wrists!” Robert all but exclaimed, causing everyone to look up in shock upon hearing the unfortunate, sad news.

“I’m afraid so my lord” Carson relays. Still trying to wrap his own mind around it.

“God in Heaven, who knows?” His Lordship responds, not being able to comprehend what he’d just heard. He also as the Butler suspected needed to be aware of who was in the know of this scandal, they couldn’t have it getting out. By this point Cora had stood up, her eyes wide with shock. 

“Not many and I would like to keep it that way, I shall say that he is ill with influenza” Carson replied. Already having a cover story prepared.  


“Carson, please don’t bother with serving our tea” Cora spoke up, sympathetically, all she could think about now was the poor young man, lying somewhere upstairs with his wrists slashed by his own hand.

“With your permission my lady” Carson answered before immediately leaving the room, he didn’t know what he was going to do now, but he felt like he should be doing something. 

Once Carson had left Robert lowered himself onto the closest chair, Cora slowly sank back to her place on the sofa, despair overtaking her, Mary looked down at the ground, thinking about Mr Barrow and about her fight earlier on that day with Edith, and Lady Rosamund, clasped her hands in her lap as she thought on the situation.

Lady Rosamund was the first to speak up. “How sad, how very sad” she said not unkindly. Mary soon got up to pour herself a cup of tea, the silence was almost deafening. It was then that she spoke.

“Do you still think dismissing Barrow was a useful saving papa” she couldn’t help herself, even in this situation, she had to say something, get back at all the people who had said something to her that day, either about Henry Talbot or Edith, it just so happened that her father was the first to fall into the firing line, it was just unfortunate that the scathing remark also came at Barrow’s expense. 

His lordship looked at her disappointedly. “That’s rather below the belt, even for you” he responded. Sometimes he couldn’t believe what came out of Mary’s mouth.


	2. Downstairs dinner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I dunno about this chapter, i feel like it goes on a little bit, feel free to let me know your thoughts and opinions.

“We’ve kept him out of the hospital, Dr Clarkson stitched him up here, he says Miss Baxter found him in time” Carson told his wife as he came down the stairs heading towards the servants dining hall. After being in the servants quarters upstairs, watching as Dr Clarkson finished stitching and bandaging the under-butler's wrists. 

“Oh, I'll go up in a minute,” Mrs Hughes responds, trying to act calm. As much as she thought Thomas sometimes deserved a smack upside the head on occasions, she knew the young man didn’t deserve this. 

They entered the dining hall, all the others were sitting waiting. They all arose as Carson walked into the room, and sat as he did. 

“I saw Dr Clarkson leaving when I got back, what was he doing here?” Mr Molesley asked.

“Mr Barrow has been taken poorly, he will spend a day or two in bed, Anna and Mrs Baxter will look after him” Mr Carson rushed, beginning serving the food.

Most of the staff around the table looked back at Mr Carson a little perplexed, it was unlike Mr Barrow to take time off. They all knew that despite how much he didn’t get on with almost anyone in the house, he always did his job, professionally and with a dedication like no other. 

Talk soon turned to Mr Molesley’s time teaching at the local school. 

Anna knew she wasn’t to talk about it but she also knew that she would tell her husband what she saw later that night, when she had returned with Dr Clarkson, she led him to Thomas’ room and what she saw would never leave her, she was certain of that. The man lying pale and unmoving on his bed, was not the man that was at ‘War’ with her husband.

Andy remained silent throughout most of the dinner, his thoughts on the man he saw as a friend, lying upstairs, who had been suffering in silence. The young footman knew that he must have had a hand in Thomas’ actions earlier that day, he was his friend, but as soon as he had been warned about the other’s ‘foulness’ as Mr Carson would say, he had begun to draw away a little. Only to go back to his friend when he promised to teach him to read. Thomas, taught him with patience and encouragement. But again, Andy reminded himself, he took his friendship from the under-butler for a second time, going to the school master to learn to read, after the two had been told that he would get confused if he was taught by two different people and again Thomas backed down, he withdrew. Andy was certain he had a part to play in all this and he couldn’t help but feel extremely guilty. 

Kicking open the bathroom door for Miss Baxter meant that he was one of the first people to witness the horror of Thomas lying in the tub, bloodied wrists and pale skin with a greyish hue. He never wanted to see his friend like that again, it almost made him sick, as soon as he had received his instructions from Miss Baxter, Andy ran from the room, startling several of the maids as he did so, on his mission to find both Mrs Hughes and Anna. 

Phyllis. Whilst she was quick to join in the conversation and find out about the day of the man she was interested in, and had abandoned on his walk to the school earlier that day, because she was worried about the other main man in her life, her childhood friend’s younger brother. But again as much as she tried to listen intently to Mr Molesley and Daisy, her mind was constantly wondering to the boy she once knew and the man he had become. Upon seeing him in the tub she thought she was too late.


End file.
